At the airfield, CTU finds six members of the Coral Snake team, all dead.

Kim Bauer flees into the woods and got lost and stuck in a trap. A backwoodsman named Lonnie McRae rescues her and brings her back to his cabin. He lies to her and tells her that the nuclear bomb went off so that she would stay and keep him company.

Marie Warner is informed of a change in plans by the terrorist she's receiving orders from.

Jack Bauer stops the plane supposedly carrying the nuclear bomb, but it turns out to be a decoy.

A nuclear bomb squad carries a large trunk into a hangar. Jack Bauer shoves the pilot of the plane carrying the decoy, pushing him into a chair. He asks him where the real bomb is, but the man doesn't speak any English. He tells other agents to secure and search him while he finds a translator.

George Mason sits at his desk running a hand over his head. His hair is starting to fall out. He looks in a mirror, presumably to check if he has any skin lesions. He gets a phone call from Jack, who tells him that they still haven't found the real bomb, and asks Mason to use reverse time satellite to trace the plane's original location. Mason doesn't respond, and Jack asks if he's okay. Mason says that he is.

Jack apologizes for the situation that Mason is in, but he needs Mason to be on top of things, and if he isn't, then he needs to step down. Mason insists that he can hold it together and tells Jack that there's another problem. Jack had found six dead commandos, but there was a seventh that may have escaped. Jack says that this makes sense as he has studied the crime scene and noticed that three of the men knew their assassin. The seventh man didn't escape, but is the one responsible for his team's demise.

Bob Warner in holding

The agents searching the pilot do not find any identification or credit cards, only some cash. Jack gets frustrated because the translator he requested is not there yet. Bob Warner sits in a dark room at CTU. An agent enters with a phone. His daughter, Kate Warner, is on the line. Kate tells him that she is fine and is at an airport. She is helping with the investigation. Kate asks if he has heard about Reza, and her father says that he has and can't believe what they are saying about Marie. Jack interrupts because he needs Kate's help translating.

President David Palmer updates Mike Novick on what he has found out from Roger Stanton. President Palmer approaches his ex-wife, Sherry, and tells her that Stanton admitted to knowing about the bomb for weeks. Sherry plays innocent, asking why he would withhold such information. Palmer tells her about the commandos tracking it and that they're dead. Sherry gasps in surprise. President Palmer asks if he is telling her something she already knows and continues, asking if she is in league with Stanton. Sherry denies it adamantly.

Palmer grills Sherry about what she knows

President Palmer tells her about Stanton's accusations, and Sherry continues to vehemently deny it. She claims she hadn't met Stanton until that afternoon. President Palmer orders her to tell him anything she might know about the bomb. Sherry caves and says she received a phone call from a friend that holds a high ranking position in NSA who told her that Roger Stanton wanted to speak with her, and Sherry agreed to meet with him. President Palmer asks what he wanted, and Sherry says that Stanton wanted to recruit her.

Stanton wanted to know who was loyal to President Palmer and who could be turned against him. Stanton was looking for President Palmer's weaknesses. Sherry admits to telling him and then claims that she only did it to gain Stanton's confidence. She claims she was doing it for President Palmer. He turns to leave, and Sherry begs him to let her have thirty minutes to prove that she is telling the truth, that she is not in league with Roger Stanton.

09:09:18

Kate Warner tries to translate for Omar's interrogation, but has difficulty due to the difference in dialects. Omar reveals that Syed Ali promised him money for his family in return for his collaboration with the bomb. Upon the arrival of Melinda Kale, the official translator, Jack tells her to ask if Omar knows about a second bomb, but he evidently knows only about the first. Meanwhile, Kate leaves the hangar where Omar is being interrogated and spots Marie in the line of people to be searched.

While Jack asks the translator to obtain more information about Omar's background, Kate goes after Marie. Meanwhile in the bomb shelter, Kim asks Lonnie about the radiation effects saying she needs to call her father. Lonnie tries to pick something on the shortwave radio. Lonnie walks to the radio and picks some stations, meaning the bomb was a hoax. Fearing Kim could hear, Lonnie pulls off the antenna and unplugs the power cable.

Mason welcomes Carrie Turner

At CTU, George welcomes Carrie Turner, Paula's replacement. When asked about who she should report to, George says she should report directly to him, but Carrie says she is aware of his health, and assumes he won't be staying in command for much longer. George indicates Tony Almeida, and Michelle Dessler, who was under Carrie´s orders at the District a while ago. Seconds later, George falls down, but does not lose consciousness.

Marie is shot

At the searching hangar, Kate finds Marie running away and goes after her. An agent, Gus, stops her, saying only people could leave the hangar only after being searched. Kate uses the CTU card Jack gave her to get permission and asks Gus to contact Jack to inform him of Marie's location.

Marie comes face to face with Kate, and asks for the CTU card, threatening her with a gun. Kate refuses and tries to convince Marie to stop supporting Syed Ali's dangerous ideas, but Marie slaps her sister in the face. Wanting the card, Marie screws on a silencer to her pistol, but before she can shoot, Jack shoots Marie in the arm. She falls down, and he detains her.

A wounded Marie is taken into interrogation. Kate asks Jack to give something for her pain, but Jack says he will only give her some medication when she cooperates. Marie goes to a hangar and is handcuffed to a chair. Jack asks where the real bomb is, but Marie is not willing to cooperate. Jack tries to take advantage of Marie's wound by squeezing Marie's arm. Marie still says no. Jack tries to psychologically manipulate Marie, questioning her will to die, but again with no results.

09:31:11

At the bomb shelter, Kim asks Lonnie for sugar, while he goes to the radio, trying to pick some station. Kim goes to the shelf indicated by Lonnie and finds a television under some sheets. Kim turns the television on, and picks some channels, figuring out the hoax created by Lonnie. Kim quickly covers the television fearing Lonnie will discover and goes back to the table.

At CTU, Michelle informs Tony of the identity of the seventh Coral Snake soldier, Captain Jonathan Wallace. Carrie stops by to say hello to a surprised Michelle.

Mason leaves CTU

09:34:02

George goes to Tony, informing him that he is stepping down, giving him the CTU and Division access codes, meaning that he will become the new Director of CTU with the agreement of Ryan Chappelle. George, trying not to cry, wishes the best of luck to Tony and asks him to thank all of the CTU crew in his name the next day. A sad Michelle watches as George walks toward the exit of CTU, never to come back again.

Tony prepares to make a speech to his new employees about George Mason as Michelle gives him notice that everyone is ready for him. After he makes his speech, Michelle tells him what a nice thing he did. Tony asks about an update at the airfield. Michelle tells him that nothing has happened yet. At the airfield, Marie is fading in and out of focus.

09:41:59

Marie drifts out of focus

Jack orders Agent Goodrich to administer Demorol for Marie's gunshot wound. Kate asks about Marie. Jack asks Kate to help to get her to extract some information. Although Kate doubts she can do it, Jack convinces her to try. Jack gives her a slight update, then pushes her over to Marie. The sisters talk. Marie still doesn't want to give any information. Kate asks if it's okay that her family dies. Marie replies that she wouldn't care, due to her killing Reza. She doesn't want to help at all, although Kate is begging her. Marie's arm starts hurting again.

Jack goes back to her as Kate begs her to give up the information. Jack refuses to give her anymore painkiller until she tells him where the bomb is. Finally, she replies it is in a suitcase, in a van, headed for the ARCO Towers. Jack gets suspicious when she knows how much time the bomb has before going off. He knows that the bomb wouldn't have a visible timer. Marie begs him to send his team downtown. As a result, Jack is convinced that the bomb is still at the airport. Marie says that they are all going to die as Kate goes back over to her.

Mike Novick briefs the President before talking to Sherry and her contact. They are on an isolated feed between the OC and Langley. The contact, CIA operative Steve Hillenburg explains that Sherry told him how Roger Stanton wanted to undermine David's presidency. Hillenburg was trying to protect the president by building a case against Stanton.

David wants to accept that, but asks for proof. Hillenburg has multiple media items to back his story. David asks where these meetings took place. Sherry replies that they met for the first month at a hotel in Hilton Head, and adds that they didn't sleep together. David says he did not ask, and ends the conversation. Sherry tries to convince David that she was not working with Stanton. David doesn't want to even analyze her story. Sherry tells him that he needs her help. But David thinks otherwise and has agents Jimmy Kelly and John escort her off the premises.

Kim threatens Lonnie

09:55:24

In the underground shelter, Kim & Lonnie are talking about Kim's worrying about her family. Kim excuses herself by saying her foot hurts, then hits Lonnie with a wrench. She threatens him with a knife and demands that she be let go. Lonnie takes the knife away and says that he just wanted someone to spend time with. Kim says she is not that person, and still is adamant about being let go. Lonnie loads a gun and gives it to her. It is to chase away any cougars she may encounter. He gives her directions to the highway, and asks if she'll ever come back. Kim says no, and leaves.

09:58:58

At the airfield, Jack sees a shootout at one of the hangars, and a lone terrorist is killed. His truck is opened, and the N.E.S.T. team unzips a bag and finds a nuclear device. They confirm that it is the real bomb, and it is armed.

The NEST team tells Jack that they are unsure of how long it will be before the bomb detonates

Split screen: Jack initiates a minor evacuation. Kim follows the trail Lonnie gave her. President Palmer wonders how the investigation is going. Kate and Marie are still at the hangar.

The N.E.S.T. team cannot tell how much time the bomb has before going off, saying that it may detonate at any moment.

This episode has the second silent clock of the series, and is the first to take place in the middle of the episode, rather than at the end. The second silent clock to take place before the end of an episode is in "Day 7: 8:00pm-9:00pm."

Coincidentally, Mason leaves CTU at 09:35:58pm, almost exactly 12 hours after he originally left CTU for Bakersfield and ended up exposed to the radioactive plutonium that would have killed him (09:36:21am).